Pica, Chile

Pica
Town and Commune
Desert landscape with a broad band of green trees in the foreground, and inmediately behind the trees the town of Pica. Behind the town a large barren plain is seen and farthest parts a series of large but gently.sloping mountains.
View of Pica town and oasis in the foreground from the southeast.


Coat of arms
Coat of arms
Map of Pica in Tarapacá Region
Map of Pica in Tarapacá Region
Location in Chile
Location in Chile
Pica
Location in Chile
Coordinates: 20°29′21″S 69°19′46″W / 20.48917°S 69.32944°W / -20.48917; -69.32944
Country Chile
Region Tarapacá
ProvinceTamarugal
Government
[1]
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • AlcaldeIván Infante
Area
[2]
 • Total
8,934.3 km2 (3,449.6 sq mi)
Elevation
1,106 m (3,629 ft)
Population
 (2017 Census)[2]
 • Total
9,296
 • Density1.0/km2 (2.7/sq mi)
 • Urban
3,912
 • Rural
5,384
Sex
[2]
 • Men6,550
 • Women2,746
Time zoneUTC-4 (CLT[3])
 • Summer (DST)UTC-3 (CLST[4])
Area code(+56) 5
Websitewww.municipalidadpica.cl

Pica is a Chilean town and commune in Tamarugal Province, Tarapacá Region. Situated in the inland of the Atacama Desert on an oasis, Pica is famous for its small and unusually acidic limes known as Limón de Pica. The town has a communal hot spring with a surface temperature of 40 °C, which makes it a popular bath place in the middle of the desert. It has hotels and all basic services. The town lies four kilometers to the northeast of the oasis village of Matilla.

Pica has a mild microclimate that does not display the typical high temperature oscillations seen in many of the world's deserts.[5] The settlement has pre-Hispanic origins and served as an important stopover for transit between the coast and the Altiplano during the time of the Inca Empire.[6][5] Bird mummies of pre-Hispanic origin have been found next to Pica.[7] Pica gained prominence over the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries when it grew in association with important mining cycles of nearby areas.[5] The first mining cycle that benefited Pica was the silver mining of Huantajaya and San Rosa between 1718 and 1790, this was then followed by a cycle of salpeter mining using the paradas method between 1830 and 1870.[5] The town became part of Chile following the War of the Pacific (1879–1883).[5] The Peruvian population of the town and specifically the rich and influential Peruvian families were a major concern for Chilean authorities who wished to Chilenize the area.[5]

Pica had once an extensive irrigation system of puquios, whose shafts are locally known as socavones.[8] In 1918 geologist Juan Brüggen mentioned the existence of 23 socavones in the Pica oasis, yet these have since then been abandoned due to economic and social changes.[8] The socavones transported water from the Pica Aquifer to the oasis.[8] As in many oases one of the biggest challenges for farmers in Pica is the scarcity of water.[9] Most of the farmers in Pica own less than five hectares, and while this size hampers commercialization of products farmers have responded by organising themselves in cooperatives.[9] Six producers, compromising one fifth of the agricultural output of the oasis, are organised in Oasis Pica Coop. This organisation was as of 2019 working to certify products as organic and enforce the appellation control for Limón de Pica.[9] Limón de Pica have had an appellation since 2010.[9]

  1. ^ "Municipality of Pica" (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  2. ^ a b c "Resultados CENSO 2017". National Statistics Institute of Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 November 2024.
  3. ^ "Chile Time". WorldTimeZones.org. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Chile Summer Time". WorldTimeZones.org. Archived from the original on 11 September 2007. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Castro Castro, Luis; Figueroa Cerna, Carolina; Hernández Opazo, Héctor (2015). "Quehacer y planteamientos del cura Luis Friedrich en el oasis de Pica durante la chilenización de Tarapacá, 1903-1907" [Work and Approaches of the Priest Luis Friedrich in the Pica Oasis during Tarapacá Chilenization, 1903-1907]. Revista de Historia Regional y Local (in Spanish). 7 (13): 224–257.
  6. ^ Núñez A., Lautaro; Briones M., Luis (2017). "Tráfico e interacción en el oasis de Pica y la costa arreica en el desierto tarapaqueño (norte de Chile)" [Transit and interacctions between the oasis of Pica and the coast in the Atacama Desert (northern Chile)]. Estudios Atacameños (in Spanish). 56. doi:10.4067/S0718-10432017000300006.
  7. ^ García, Richard (2021-03-31). "Guacamayos y loros momificados revelan antiguo comercio entre la selva y los pobladores de Atacama". El Mercurio. p. A8.
  8. ^ a b c Lictevout, Elizabeth; Abellanosa, Carlos; Maass, Constanza; Pérez, Nicolás; Gonzalo, Yáñez; Véronique, Leonardi Véronique (2020). "Exploration, mapping and characterization of filtration galleries of the Pica Oasis, northern Chile: A contribution to the knowledge of the Pica Aquifer". Andean Geology. 47 (3): 529–558. doi:10.5027/andgeoV47n3-3272.
  9. ^ a b c d "Pica busca recuperar su agricultura". Campo. El Mercurio. January 31, 2019.